On the road

Soldiers Magazine, March, 2004 by Beth Reece

ADD a convoy of armored vehicles to a South Korean country road--what do you get?

"A hazard. This is harvest time, so lots of farmers are out on their tractors. You never know if one will be around the comer," said MAJ Nancy-Jo Newell, transportation officer for the 2nd Infantry Division.

Mobility is everything to an army that prides itself on the ability to get anywhere quickly. But without help from their transportation office, getting from point A to point B would be a slow ride for 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers who must brave narrow roads, heavy traffic, thick fog and bridges too weak for some U.S. vehicles to cross, Newell said.

"We're guests here, and these roads have limitations we're not used to dealing with," she said.

To travel, units must first arrange times and dates of movement with the division's transportation office. Transportation specialists then acquire clearance numbers from a movement-control battalion that's run by the Republic of Korea army. The numbers are shared among units in both U.S. and ROK armies to help manage the number of convoys on the road at any one time.

The transportation office coordinates daily movement of around 70 convoys--almost 600 vehicles--during exercises. To reduce the risks of accidents, units typically move at night in convoys of four or more vehicles.

Today the 2nd Military Police Company and the Korean National Police add another layer of safety to troop movement, said Newell. The Korean police support the movement of tracked and oversized wheeled vehicles by setting up traffic-control points along projected routes, usually at major intersections or in towns. The MPs also escort convoys to alert locals that oversized vehicles are in tow.

"If MPs weren't out there Soldiers would have a much greater possibility of being involved in accidents," said SFC Michael Cosper, operations sergeant for the 2nd MP Co. "We're keeping folks alive."